Guild Wars 2

Hey fellow rangers. New gamemode. What are you gonna change? What are you gonna keep the same?
Me i find it hard to keep the tanky condi build cause i think mobility will be vital.
Maybe some support through spirits for constant swiftnees to the npcs..
Any ideas for the role the rangers will hold?

Having played stronghold. I have no idea what the meta will become. That being said, there are plenty of options. Traps for just defense against npcs while also being able to move around the map (since you can leave them behind). Condi is good because just like Foefire lord it’s easier to kill npcs with condis. A/t a/d or whatever isn’t necessarily optimal for killing people because there are no nodes to hold… But with entangle lock down it might be. Power could be good for interrupting and roaming to get kills, granted I imagine most people will use stab to channel so interrupts might be hard to come by…. It’s really tough to say. Condi something is probably the safer bet though imo.

Personally, I think the standard power LB build will be pretty ideal, particularly since there’s no capture points like Conquest.

Seems like it’s going to be more skirmish focused than conquest, so I think all the normal ranger build will be good. I’m thinking a “guard!” build for escorting NPCs.

Double melee might be a thing for running supply? I kind of get the feeling running supply won’t be all that important. If double melee gets to be a thing I’m kittening playing it.

Also gonna be really brutal without build templates. I already switch chars for courtyard.

I imagine being able to hit multiple targets (cleave) will be beneficial in clearing opposing NPCs. This could create an Axe + Drake + 3 NM that works well.

I’m concerned though that Elementalist will still retain their “Best in Slot everywhere” status in the new format given that they can probably extend their boons to their NPCs, heal their NPCs, and have great AOE/cleave damage.

Spirit Ranger might make a comeback if the NPCs benefit much from spirits. From what I’ve seen when you’re in the aggressive lane you usually have a posse of a few tengu archers at your back. Each tengu archer would be applying burning to the enemy while gaining protection themselves. Maybe add spirit of water so they are all producing heals too, though I imagine Healing Spring will remain the ideal group heal.

A cleric’s BM build might be good for the aggressive lane too. It’s a decent 1v1 set up and puts out a lot of strong regen and small heals to keep the NPCs alive, while also providing near perma swiftness to the group. Meanwhile the hard hitting pet plus tengu archers will keep the enemy on the defensive the whole fight.

IIRC, the NPCs only fight each other for the most part. The archers are there to attack the gate NPCs, which are there to attack the bomb NPCs.

This is the roaming build I played for a long time, I think it will work pretty well in stronghold. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRnMqQvg2vCusAXLGYPoWHAFwZ/KOcvFHRTnyKGxaqA-TZBFwACeAAMOEA12foaZAAXBAA

It’s not really a skirmishing map… there is little reason to kill duke it out when people can just run to a different objective. Play the map not the players, think of like skyhammer or Spirit Watch where ranger can dominate the map without ever really needing to fight anyone.

How can you run to a different objective when someone is attacking your gate?

Moving to different objectives is why I think running supply isn’t going to be a thing… I’m guessing it will be “if you’re near the supply and things are under control, pick some up and everyone rotate.”

But defending a gate/lord means you must defend the gate/lord or you lose the game. Likewise you can pull off if you’re attacking to go do something less dangerous, but someone has to be attacking or you’ll never get the gate/lord down.

I don’t think I’ll get a chance to play tomorrow to see if any of my guesses are accurate.

Players can’t damage gates.

From what i have seen, things like moving around the map and swiftness might be some of the more impotent things.

I was thinking settlers amulate, SoTF, poison master either A/T – S/D or A/D – S/WH possibility even travellers or speed runes.

OR full glass bow for killing eneamy NPC’s

LB zerk = tower defense kinda games. Shoot while the npcs line up like a train

I think these 3 builds might be great; Spirit Ranger, Trap Ranger, Longbow Ranger. Spirit Ranger for the Rez Spirit will be amazingly crucial when you’re on the back foot, Trap Ranger would wreck NPCs, Longbow Ranger would only be great for roaming. You could also incorporate the Rez Spirit into any of these builds.

If you’re interested in looking at other builds for other classes, I made a video!

Eurantien.4632:

Players can’t damage gates.

I know, but you have to lead the NPCs there and kill whoever is trying to kill the NPCs. The map forces you to split up in to different roles (or at least it appears that way before a meta is established.) Everything I’m seeing says small skirmishes. Fighting over the gate area, fighting over the hero areas. The only team fight might be a lord fight, but even then you can’t really commit your whole team to defense or you’ve admitted defeat since you won’t be making any forward progress.

I just don’t see how it would be possible to zerg the map, or as it seems you’re suggesting, just move to a different objective if someone attacks you. You must defend the gate/lord. Unless it turns in to 5 man offenses to see who finishes first, in which case this will overtake courtyard as the least popular map ever.

I’m curious how effective it will be to rotate and +1 the opposing team’s player(s) running the NPCs real quick and then slay their NPCs. Surely that would buy some time as they then need their NPCs to respawn.

Of course, we’ll have to see how this map works in action to truly understand it though.

Well I got a few games in. It’s an extremely small-fight or 1v1 focused map (at least before someone decides a particular strategy is meta and all PUGs do it.) It’s roughly 2-1-2, with an additional break off for the heros. From what I’ve seen if you neglect any aspect of that split, you’ll lose pretty quickly.

Skirmish focused build, but you need high damage to end it quickly enough to make any sort of difference, or at least kill the NPCs. I think this map heavily favors power LB. It doesn’t hurt we have a ton of CC, either.

I tried a few different builds to varying degrees of success. Since players start with supply, an organized zerker team can end the game absolutely insanely fast, without ever even having to leave the attack lane. Obviously glass bow works best if this is your strategy.

When the game was moving at a more regular pace, I still found power really strong, but I also really liked using a cele s/wh, a/t build.

I played mostly spirit ranger for this map using axe/warhorn and shortbow. I dominated the offensive lane more often than not as my sustain was high enough to ignore the enemies while I killed the guards around them. Ended up clearing most of the guards myself using this strategy with one run until the enemy finally called in support from their teammates.

Also, river drake is borderline OP on this map. Lightning Breath can easily dispatch a pair of guards when used in conjunction with pressure from the ranger himself.

At one point I won the game for my team by soloing the entire lord room by myself, just me, my spirits, and my drake. The enemy longbow ranger came in at the last second but failed to prevent my stomp. His point blank shot hit one of my spirits, it was great.

I’ve also found the build highly effective defensively as well. All the NPCs benefit from the spirits, but most importantly is Spirit of Nature. It can be used to instantly rally a downed lord, restoring him to half health. That is a game changing ability.

I’ve been finding zerk bow to work well all the way until an offensive lord assault. But pretty much everywhere other than that situation, it works fantastically, mostly because kills awarding points towards winning is pretty much gamebreaking for the gametype and allows pug games to devolve into TDM matches.

Ya, seems early offensive condi ranger of some sort to kill guards early is the way to go. You can then transition with a spirit build to defense or just keep pressuring the lord with a condi build since most things won’t be able to kill your or cleanse the lord enough which either means they have to pull off extra people to stop you and your team wins the rest of the map, or you win.

Sebrent.3625:

I imagine being able to hit multiple targets (cleave) will be beneficial in clearing opposing NPCs. This could create an Axe + Drake + 3 NM that works well.

I’m concerned though that Elementalist will still retain their “Best in Slot everywhere” status in the new format given that they can probably extend their boons to their NPCs, heal their NPCs, and have great AOE/cleave damage.

Rangers can do that as well.

Try Nature’s Voice and go for Axe MH. Absolutely amazing. Perma Swiftness and Regen if you want to shepard, good support all around. Entangle denies All(!) channels AoE which is just OP. Cause Lords can’t heal themselves, you can just cast Guard couple times in the room and heal everyone up again. Axe MH aggros all NPCs. One cast and your Doorbreakers won’t be disturbed. Good mobility for supply runs. Try it.

Jayden Ennok.3687:

Sebrent.3625:

I imagine being able to hit multiple targets (cleave) will be beneficial in clearing opposing NPCs. This could create an Axe + Drake + 3 NM that works well.

I’m concerned though that Elementalist will still retain their “Best in Slot everywhere” status in the new format given that they can probably extend their boons to their NPCs, heal their NPCs, and have great AOE/cleave damage.

Rangers can do that as well.

Not to the same degree and without having to make tradeoffs.

Been using a build focussed around Trap Ranger, coupled with Poison master and Krait runes. Has high toughness.

SB and A/T

Mainly I go on the defensive using the Treb or gate defense. Most players dont expect a trap ranger anymore so they waltz right in a get burst down by condi in under 5 seconds, has happened with alot and sometimes even 2 players.

I got in about half a dozen games last night.

i ended up mostly playing with this build.

It seemed to do most of the things that i need to do, defend door barkers, kill door barkers/archers and run supply. And its competitive if i need to 1v1 or escape from a 1vX

I more or less played it as S/wh for moving and A/D for fighting

entangle is really strong, and condi bunker in general for the sustain. entangle pretty much “one-shots” heros, immobing them for the entire duration. sustain in lane and 1v1 ability makes it a super strong build. I won my lane every game I played

haven’t tried power, but it’s probably ok. questionable if better than medi guard for killing other players, which just felt so, so strong.

traps are just silly but maybe you guys will prove me wrong. while they seem appealing for laning, you cant 1v1 anyone with them and you have no mobility. glassbow has mobility, and bunker can just stay in lane all game due to its sustain.

as a few people have already said, SH appears to be all about mobility and dps. I didn’t see any “shepherd” specs making any difference, other than giving swiftness to the npcs. npc’s will always be shut down hard by any hard-hitting roamer.

Eggyokeo.9705:

i ended up mostly playing with this build.

Why would you run settlers? I’m racking my brain for anything that would contribute to the build. Or was that a misclick?

Fair question,

- Short answer is trial and error.
- I found that settlers had enough npc killing ability so rabid was not need for killing things.
- I also found that with settlers, oak salve and natures bounty i was able to handle a bit of pressure while getting supply (that place that turret engis decided to camp), this is also the reason for SotW.
- when defending i was able to handle 2 players long enough to kill the door beakers. (Glassbow rangers could do this from a perch)

The only real draw back was 1v1s could take a bit too long, also killing defending players when escorting door barkers was a bit slow. So if i was in a 1v1 that was a waste of time i would just bail, which is pretty easy with a S/WH set (also the reason for ice sigil on the WH for WH#4)

mistsim.2748:

as a few people have already said, SH appears to be all about mobility and dps. I didn’t see any “shepherd” specs making any difference, other than giving swiftness to the npcs. npc’s will always be shut down hard by any hard-hitting roamer.

I aggree with this fully and is part of the reason why included a WH if for no other reason then to give a door breaker a quick toot after you spawn them. but if a glassbow ranger, teef or mez decided that wanted to kill the NPC’s you escorting there is very little you could do about it.

Stealth the NPCs → send high sustainy something to kill the guards → win!

i can see mass invis mez or SR teef combed with some sort of condi bunker being a thing for assaulting.

I didn’t notice the guards being very dangerous. A few times I won 1v1s while also killing the guards. I think damage is a lot more important than sustain on this map.

I wonder if a single bow ranger could snipe off doorbreakers with RaO and SotW/SoS and ignore the assaulting players then hide in the base, which would allow for 4 offense (with maybe a highly mobile and sturdy shoutbow playing versatile.)

Fluffball.8307:

I didn’t notice the guards being very dangerous. A few times I won 1v1s while also killing the guards. I think damage is a lot more important than sustain on this map.

I wonder if a single bow ranger could snipe off doorbreakers with RaO and SotW/SoS and ignore the assaulting players then hide in the base, which would allow for 4 offense (with maybe a highly mobile and sturdy shoutbow playing versatile.)

That’s basically what I did most of the time. Seems like people don’t really like to defend, thankfully I do, though it meant I was always defending on my own. While I did well defending as a power ranger I feel like the condi-trap is better.

With condi trap I used runes of grenth and the 20% chill duration sigil. This meant I could stop the mobs mid lane and make them take more or less the full duration of fire trap/bonfire, even stalling them further with spike trap. It’s also better for skirmishing the “mist energy” things that you have to channel for the hero.

However that said, I feel that Engi beats ranger in terms of condi survival, or so it felt like it in that regard. I ran the typical rabid and was able to do so much better just due to having more AoE pressure but also at 1500 range. I feel the rangers place is power LB as with this map theres more “sniping” spots and you aren’t forced to stay on point to win, that and well I feel like they’re mandatory to snipe down turreteers.

I’ve set up a modified ranger power Lbow build. Drake pet to tank NPCs with traits as 6/2/0/0/6. In effect, I basically play it like PvE, but with a focus on being able to keep my drakes working on the NPCs while I deal with the oncoming players that try to heckle me. It worked pretty well during the beta.

Defense on the full Zerker ranger camping walls and destroying npcs or players quickly was extremely useful. I was the only person necessary for playing defense because no one could break the door with dead npcs